Huaraz

  Huaraz, Peru
Saturday, December 27, 2008

From Trujillo we headed on to the mountains! It was an overnight bus which we were late in booking so ended up with the Ejecutivo VIP service! Hopes were high, and things started well when we were served a tasty sandwich and biscuits but then as the bus started the long climb up on the mountains roads to take us from sea level to over 3052m we realised this was not going to be a smooth journey thanks to the constant hairpin bends and rough roads!
Arrived in Huaraz however And we found a cool hostal with amazing views out over the Cordillera Blanca. We could see Huascaran, Peru's highest mountain at 6768m from our bedroom window! We drank some coca tea on the roof terrace and took in the views.



Had a lazy day initially as we were fairly shattered from the night bus and we had obviously Eaten something disagreeable as we weren`t too keen to stray too far from the loo! We made use of the hostals kitchen and Pete cooked me tomato soup and macaroni cheese! Good comfort food!!
Next day we headed out to town and kitted ourselves out with a map, stove and rollmats in preparation for the 4 day Santa Cruz Trek. We were offered donkeys for the trek but decided to carry all our own stuff as taking donkeys would require us to feed and provide a tent for the donkey man too!
We realised that the supermarket selling perfect camping food like packets of risotto and things was closed all day Sunday! So we found ourselves negotiating the pitfalls of the local market! Haggling for fruit, veg, eggs, rice, pasta, tuna, matches etc amongst the stalls of live chickens and ducks, chicken parts strung up covered in flies, pigs heads and fish gut strewn pathways was an experience! We got a bargain though 15small peppers for 1 sol (22p) so we were in a good mood and went out to a cool creperie for tea before packing out bags for the trek.
Next day we left the hostal at 6am to catch a collectivo to Yungay, from there we had a hurried breakfast as the bus which was supposed to be coming in an hour came early and the cafe had no change for Pete so I jumped on and had to get them to wait for him!! Then we were off on the triply breathtaking bus journey! Firstly the bus climbed to an amazing mountain pass at 4767m above sea level so the air was breathtakingly thin, secondly the scenery of turquoise coloured icy lakes, snow capped mountains, huge glaciers and massive sheer cliff faces was stunningly breathtaking, and thirdly the road was an unpaved rocky track up hairpin bends which the bus driver delighted in hurtling along so we were thrown about winding ourselves as he sped over the big bumps!
 


The bus journey was about 2 hours and respect to the local people - some of them were sound asleep on the bus! Just over the mountain pass we stopped and lots of folk got out which we thought was to admire the scenery so we headed out for a look too! It turned out they weren`t really looking about and most of them proceeded to have a pee up against the back wheels of the bus! It was then I realised that I was the only girl getting off the bus!! So I cupped my hands and admired the view down the valley whilst Pete joined the locals and pretended he was used to this sort of thing!!
 


Arriving in Vaquaria we were greeted by a chatty local man who kept laughing as our lack of understanding as he kept on asking us questions in Spanish! Some of the questions we were able to answer! The usual what country we were from, how old we were, how long we were in Peru and were we married! He pointed us in the direction of the village shop and after purchasing a large bottle of Inca Kola we were off on the Trek!
We arrived at the control point and bought our trekking permits! It turned out we were the only people on the track that day! Day one was sunny and we had great views of the surrounding mountains, wandering up through villages with kids running up to us asking for caramellos (sweets). We walked 5 hours and arrived at the campsite which, as it turned out doubled as a cow pasture! We cooked a great tea that had lots of peppes and tomatoes and looked really tasty. On first try we realized we had made a big mistake, what we took to be peppers were infact Chillies and it was roasting hot!! We had a great campfire in the evening as the sunset over the mountains. Then a crinkly noise from the tent alerted us to the arrival of some cows! Aaggh - they`d managed to get under the tent flap and grab a bag of food! By the time we chased them away they`d managed to eat all our pasta, a big sachet of jam and slobber all over our rolls! Oh dear! We were now left with only two sachets of soup and two packets of super noodles for diner over the next few days. I tried throwing some stones to scare them but it didn`t seem to scare them off and all night I kept waking up and chasing them away whilst Pete slept soundly!!
Next day we had the LONG SLOG! It was an 8 hour day. We had 1000m of ascent from 3800m to a pass at 4800m. We passed a family from New Zealand coming the other way and headed up and up, into the clouds! Then we heard an avalanche as some big chunks broke of a glacier across the valley. Then it began to hail really heavily, then came the thunder!! It was quite scary - a big crack overhead, and then it rumbled all round the valley! we reached the pass which was an amazing notch in the ridge, and began to descend down into the other valley, here it was snowing but luckily this cleared and we could see a lovely turquoisy blue lake in the valley and snowcapped peaks. Got the tent up before the rain came on and settled down to a packet of supernoodles between us thanks to those pasta-munching cows!
Slept well tonight, no animals in the vicinity and perfect peace and quiet.
Hogmanay!! The rain was still falling next day so we got up late and headed down the valley. The weather picked up and it stayed dry for the rest of the day, allowing us to get to the last campsite and do some washing in the river with some cows watching on, and even lie relaxing in the sun for a wee while! Only about 5 hours walking today and we were in the tent enjoying the last pack of supernoodles and bottle of wine at 7pm when we realised it was midnight at home! Happy New Year! As it happened we were really tired and after a few Games of cards we decided to get some sleep! It seemed daft to stay up when we were the only people for miles around!
Day 4 was sunny and nice so we set off in good spirits, and after a few hours walking down the valley which narrowed to a gorge with the great cliff walls towering above us we met 2 Brazilians walking up so we wished them a Feliz Ano Nuevo!
We arrived at Cashapampa, the village at the end of the valley and had an Inca Kola while we waited for some form of transport! A taxi passed with a couple of folk in so there was room for our us. We jumped in, then a bit further along another man jumped in too! There were 3 folk in the front seat now, and before long there were 4 of us in the back seat too! Then after a few comings and goings we picked up 2 boys with 5 crates of empty beer bottles from the New year celebrations, one of the boys jumped in the boot with the crates! It was crazy! But it worked and we got to Caraz, caught a collectivo back up to Huaraz tired but happy! It had been good to do the trek for ourselves and we saved a fortune by DIY trekking rather than using an agency!
Time to relax and have a good meal - Pete was determined to have the biggest steak he could find as revenge to the pasta-muching cows! We weren`t disappointed by the fillet mignon and yummy chips we found that evening!!
Next day it was back to traveling but we were ready to move on now.